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REVIEWED FOR WIRELESS BOLLINGER – please visit them for all things indie…

Leader Cheetah’s The Sunspot Letters is an album that creeps up on you. There are no grand gestures, no great peaks of brilliance, just a certain sound and mood that washes over the record and leaves an impression.

Hailing from Adelaide and rising from the ashes of his former band Pharaohs, Dan Crannitch formed Leader Cheetah a couple of years back as a vehicle for the darker and more melodic songs he was writing. After only a few gigs in 2007 they found themselves supporting the likes of Blonde Redhead and Dinosaur Jr and once the songs for the album had been road tested they brought in US producer Kramer (Galaxie 500, Low, Robert Wyatt) to pull the whole thing together. Some would say the band has had a dream run, maybe too perfect, but listening to The Sunspot Letters it is clear they have an album of songs to justify the plaudits they are starting to receive.

One of the reasons this album works so well is that it slips ever so gently through the musical cracks. In a nutshell they straddle indie, pop, Americana and post punk, weaving elements of each into the music as needed. The music isn’t aggressive nor overly passive in its Aussie folkisms. Credit for this must be given to Crannitch’s vocals which blend UK singers of the 90’s like Brett Anderson and Brian Molko with Interpol’s Paul Banks as well as west coast USA country rock flavours. His voice is possessed of a richly restrained grain that gives the music a certain gravity.

The lead single ‘Bloodlines’ is the first standout track with its sad overtones and gothic flourishes. The guitar and vocal melodies allow the song to shift its weight with ease between verse and chorus. ‘The Explorer’ does as the title suggests, venturing more into Americana stylings replete with twanging guitars and shuffling steam train drums. The subject matter of Crannitch’s songs lean toward the melancholy side of human emotion. ‘Wasted Life & Times’ touches on the unfulfilled potential of a person’s life as they drift towards death, while ‘Fly Golden Arrow Pt 1’ paints a picture of a relationship that changes with the seasons – “We said hello in late December/We parted ways that very spring/Too much of love is like the weather/Without the rain the sun won’t sing”.

The spirit of Ryan Adams appears on ‘Rosewater Wine’ with Crannitch hitting the higher notes on the slow soul torch song with its lovely female harmonies and aching plea “We’re fading now/What have I done”. The song sets itself aside from the tempo of the rest of the album but it works well in not descending into false dramatics. It constantly reins itself back in to a core musical theme and delivers a touching piano coda to wind the song down.

‘Fly Golden Arrow Pt 2’ is a good example of where Leader Cheetah stretch themselves too thin. Adding little to the album, it is an attempt at a Crazy Horse-style slow jam that only serves to exacerbate the criticism that the band does at times take itself a little too seriously. The combination of Crannitch’s voice and the less dynamic songs add a claustrophobic feel to parts of the album that could be more easily accepted without the seven minute closing track leaving a final reminder of those moments. Live I’m sure the song would work much better.

Though not a complete album The Sunspot Letters is certainly a very strong calling card for Leader Cheetah. It potentially sets them up to make waves in the way that Augie March and The Drones have done in recent years, but only if they refine the balance between the light and shade in their music and avoid their sound becoming too polished and radio friendly. Theirs is the type of music that requires a certain rawness and vulnerability to really connect with people. As a debut record this has without doubt seen them take their first steps toward achieving that.